Apr 9, 2019
This new invention can generate power from the softest breeze

Government invention is available to businesses or entrepreneurs who would make, use, or sell it

Axy Pagan-Vasquez, a mechanical engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, explains how low-velocity wind energy is being captured using flexible strips of material during the Department of Defense Lab Day at the Pentagon. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Engineer Research and Development Center is developing the technology for use in conditions beyond suitable for wind turbines. (EJ Hersom/DoD)

By Troy Carter
TechLink Staff Writer

A patent was issued to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Tuesday for a novel generator that buzzes in a light breeze.

Using low-velocity winds—less than nine miles per hour, which are not strong enough to turn a traditional wind turbine’s blades—the new generator creates power using “elastic tension gradient” strips.

The prototype generator, built at the Corps’ Engineer Research and Development Center, has a base structure made of PVC piping that supports eight elastic strips mounted vertically on rotating tensioning tubes.

The strips are positioned in parallel with the wind’s direction and their front-to-back elasticity gives them a constant serpentine wiggle, which moves an embedded copper induction coil across a smooth pipe containing magnets. Wiring transmits the induced electricity from the coil generators to a power converter and output where it can be used for all sorts of work.

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